


wasn't expecting you (like a punch that knocks the wind out)

by lizardwriter



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/F, HSAU, Soccer AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-22 18:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30042912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizardwriter/pseuds/lizardwriter
Summary: Toni is with a new foster home, at a new school so she looks to do the one thing that stays constant in her life: play soccer. That means meeting a new group of girls, proving herself to a new coach, and dealing with the annoying captain of the team, Shelby.
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind & Toni Shalifoe, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 12
Kudos: 174





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from "That Feeling When" by Dagny and was suggested to me by the wonderful [blake0tyler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blake0tyler/pseuds/blake0tyler) (Go read her actors au if you're not already!)
> 
> I didn't really expect to be writing for this fandom, but blame blake0tyler. She sent me a picture of Erana James with a soccer ball and said someone needed to write a soccer au, so here we are. The whole gang will make appearances, but really it's Toni and Shelby's story. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Feedback is welcome (and encouraged) and updates are apt to be slow.

Another home, another school. 

It was the story of her life. She’d count how many it had been, but honestly she’d lost track. It was just another home that would tire of her anger, that would send her away rather than try to understand it, try to help her. 

Whatever. 

She was used to it. 

At least there was one constant, one thing that she could do no matter where she was. Every new house she showed up at she had three things with her: her backpack, a black trash bag with some clothes, and her soccer ball. It was old and ragged, flaps of the original covering hanging off at odd angles but it still held air and that meant she could still use it. 

That’s what made her walk to the gym office to talk to the soccer coach even though the season had already started, even though she’d missed tryouts. Nobody ever decided they were done with her at a convenient time like the start of a school year. It was always mid-semester, mid-month. 

The coach leaned back in her chair and looked her over and Toni felt like she was on display, like she was being weighed and measured just with this woman’s eyes. She didn’t like her calculating expression or her sharp jaw or her pointed nose. She didn’t trust it. But if she was the coach, she wouldn’t get anywhere by pissing her off, so Toni clenched her jaw and waited for a response. 

“I’ve seen you in gym. You’re naturally athletic.” 

Toni wanted to say, “No shit,” but she bit her tongue instead and waited. 

“We’ve got a good team. Starters are set. You’d have to work hard to prove you deserve a spot,” Coach Klein continued. 

Toni nodded. She was fast and she had good skills on the ball. She wasn’t worried about that. She’d spent hours juggling a ball in the backyard of one house or another just to get outside, just to escape the leering gazes of foster brothers or, in some houses, foster fathers, just to escape the biting comments from foster mothers or foster sisters, just to escape the responsibility of looking out for all the younger kids for just a fucking minute. She was good on a ball. She had great awareness. 

“And we really are a team. You’re going to have to find a way to fit in. I’ve heard about your...anger management issues.”

Toni scowled. What the fuck? Had this woman looked into her? Did she know she was coming to talk to her about joining the team? Fitting in was NOT Toni’s strong-suit and she knew it. 

“I’ll do my best,” she bit out. 

Coach Klein looked her over again with that annoying, calculating gaze. “Yes. I’ll see to it that you do.” 

Again, Toni barely bit back a response. 

“Well, I’ll see you after school, then,” Coach Klein said with a smile that felt far too fake before swivelling back to her desk in an obvious dismissal. 

Toni contemplated saying “thanks” for the briefest of moments, but the truth was it didn’t feel like this woman was doing her any favors, so she just shrugged, hooked her backpack a little higher on her shoulder, and left without a word. 

  
  


Toni was the first one at the field. She ran a few laps to clear her head. She wasn’t anxious, exactly, but it was always rough breaking into a new team. Most of the girls would have played together for years. There would already be a hierarchy. They would already be a team with their own set of dynamics. Some places she was welcomed in pretty easily once they saw her skills, but it was always a toss up.

She was just practicing a few shots on goal when someone else joined her on the field. 

Toni was pretty sure she recognized her from a few of her classes, but she never really bothered to learn names of classmates. What was the point when they’d be switched out for different classmates in a different school in a few months? 

This girl was tall and blonde with long legs and tan skin. She looked every bit the part of a southern pageant queen, but Toni couldn’t imagine what she was doing on a soccer field. Piercing green eyes laden with too heavy a touch of eyeliner and clearly fake lashes (there was no way ones that long were natural), stared at her curiously as the girl stretched for a few minutes. 

Toni shot her a glare then resumed taking shots. 

She was interrupted a moment later by an accent that couldn’t help grating on her very soul. 

“You’re pretty good. You’re Toni, right? Are you going to try out for the team next year? I’m Shelby, team captain.” 

Toni turned and took in the broad smile (as fake as the girl’s eyelashes, she was sure). Her eyes dropped to the extended hand, but she made no move to shake it. She almost balked at the information being handed to her. Captain? This prissy girl was team captain? But what if she broke a nail? “How do you know my name?”

Shelby didn’t seem offended, she just smiled wider. “Oh, I help with the school welcoming committee sometimes, and I make it a point to learn all the names of new students. It’s always nice to have someone know your name, right?” 

Toni smiled in a “if you say so” kind of way. “Sure. And, no. I’m playing this year.” 

Toni watched as a flash of confusion marred the otherwise flawless facade on Shelby’s face. 

“Oh. I hadn’t heard.” 

Toni smirked. “Yeah. Talked to Coach Klein earlier. She said I’m in.” 

Shelby’s smile faltered only for a split second, but Toni couldn’t help feeling slightly triumphant about it. Something about Shelby already rubbed her the wrong way. 

“Oh, well, in that case, welcome to the team!”

Before Toni could respond, Coach Klein came out through the back door of the gym and approached the field. 

“Ah, good! You two have met!” she called out as she approached. 

Toni clenched her jaw. It didn’t feel like a good thing. Still, it was a team sport, she reminded herself. 

“Shelby, I’m going to leave it to you to introduce Toni to the rest of the team, okay? We’re going to scrimmage today and let Toni here show us what she’s got. Could you lead warm ups?”

“Of course, Coach Klein!” Shelby said in a bright, sickly sweet voice. “I’d love to.”

_ So phony, _ Toni thought. 

Slowly other girls began to trickle out of the building and Coach Klein called out to them. “No, sure, take your time! Practice start time is completely optional!” 

Toni snorted as everyone hurried their step, most of them breaking out into a jog. 

“We have a new player looking to join our team. I’m going to let Shelby handle the introductions and the war ups while I go talk some strategy for our game Saturday against North Ridge High with Nora. And, let’s hustle, ladies. Show Toni what we’re made of. Okay?” Without waiting for a response she nodded her head. “Great!” she declared, and then she wandered off. 

Toni felt every set of eyes fall to her. She recognized some of the faces from the hallways and didn’t know others, but she had no names to attach to anyone. 

“Everyone, I’d like you to give a warm Panther welcome to Toni!” Shelby said in a voice that Toni felt would be better suited to a pep rally than a soccer field. 

“I can introduce myself,” Toni muttered. 

“Okay, well, that’d be great. Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself!” Shelby encouraged. 

Maybe it was Toni’s imagination, but she thought she heard a slight edge to Shelby’s voice. She also definitely, hadn’t thought this through, because she really had no interest in telling the girls more about her. Still, everyone was looking at her expectantly. 

“So, um…” She dug the toe of her cleat into the dirt. She noticed that everyone else’s cleats were shiny and new, clearly bought just at the start of the season. Toni’s had once been white with black stripes, but had long ago faded to a murky brownish-tan. “I’m...Toni, like she said. I’m new here. I like soccer.” She hated shit like this. Why did they have to “get to know her”? Couldn’t she let her feet do the talking. 

Her last comment earned her a few chuckles, at least and one girl, a thick-boned, sturdy, down-to-earth looking brunette, muttered, “I mean, I’d hope so or you’re in the wrong place,” which earned a few more laughs. 

“Yeah, I mean...That’s really all there is to know,” Toni finished up. 

“Don’t be silly. That can’t be all. Here, I know, how about we all go around and say our names, our grade, our position, and...oh, I don’t know, our favorite Katy Perry song!” 

Toni gave Shelby a reproachful look. “I don’t like Katy Perry.” 

“Everyone likes Katy Perry,” Shelby replied, her smile never faltering. “I’ll start. I’m Shelby, I’m a junior, I’m center mid, and my favorite Katy Perry song is ‘Firework’.” 

“Of course it is,” Toni muttered. 

A thin brunette with bright blue eyes snorted, but Shelby didn’t seem to notice. “Dot, why don’t you go next?” 

The girl who’d spoken up about liking soccer sighed. “Um, okay, I’m Dot, I’m a junior, and I’m the keeper.” 

“Favorite Katy Perry song!” Shelby reminded, and Toni was left wondering if her voice ever didn’t sound annoyingly cheerful. 

“Right, uh…”Ghost”, I guess.”

“Rachel?” Shelby prompted, to a muscular black girl who was running in place as if she couldn’t wait for the actual practice to start. 

“Rachel Reid, junior, right back or forward. Basically I play where I’m needed. ‘Eye of the Tiger’.” She didn’t hesitate, and Toni at least had to appreciate that she seemed to know herself, even if she definitely had a bit of an intenseness to her. 

Toni half paid attention as everyone introduced themselves in turn, most of them apparently completely happy to play into Captain Shelby’s annoying little game. The only ones that seemed disinterested were Becca, a brunette with curly hair tied back into a ponytail who played right back looked like she wished she was anywhere else, Leah, who had been the one to snort in amusement earlier and said she couldn’t name a single Katy Perry song and who apparently was a center back, and Fatin, an elegant-looking girl who looked like she might be headed to a club right after practice with how she’d styled her warm ups to be cut a little more revealingly and who, despite being a super sub forward, as she put it, seemed like she wasn’t very interested in soccer at all. 

“Toni?” Shelby turned to her. 

“Hmm? Oh. I dunno.” 

“Come on. Everyone else did it.” 

Toni wanted to ask if everyone else jumped off a bridge if she’d be expected to follow suit, but she needed to make the team and to do that, she realized, she needed to play along. “I’m Toni, junior, I usually play at the 9 or 10, and...fuck, I dunno.” 

There were a few gasps, and Shelby’s eyes went wide. 

“We don’t curse at school. It’s not appropriate, especially since we have a few younger girls on the team,” she scolded. 

“Too fucking right,” Fatin said with a grin, and Toni had to laugh. 

Shelby, however, glared at her, not that Fatin seemed bothered in the slightest. 

“Anyway, what’s your favorite Katy Perry song?” 

An idea struck Toni. It wasn’t actually her favorite song. She found it annoying and kind of offensive, if she was being honest, but it just might throw Miss Beauty Pageant off, which would be worth it. 

“I Kissed a Girl.” Toni replied, looking her dead in the eye. 

She saw Shelby’s smile falter, saw her take a slight step back, and Toni couldn’t resist adding, “And I liked it,” with a wink towards Fatin, who laughed. 

“I like her. She can stay,” Fatin declared. 

“Um, right, well, now that we all know each other, let’s get to actually practicing, right?” Shelby said, stepping back and bouncing up and down a few times. “Let’s start with two laps to warm up and then get into stretching! Come on, girls! Let’s go!” She took off without waiting to see if anyone followed. 

Toni rolled her eyes, and Fatin grumbled, “I fucking hate running.” 

Toni laughed. “Is she always like that?” 

“Who, Shelby? She’s not so bad.”

“If you say so.” She let her eyes trail after Shelby for a second. She ignored the voice in the back of her mind that said, “Nice ass. She looks good.” Instead, she let her feet pound into the ground after the rest of the team. 

  
  


~*~

  
  


She was good. Like  _ really _ good. Like Linh might get bumped from the starting lineup good. 

It was —

Annoying.

Who was this Toni Shalifoe who thought she could just barge in here and control the team like this? Already she was barking orders to the players on her side for the scrimmage, organizing like she was in charge. 

Shelby knew it wasn’t especially charitable for her to think like that, but the girl just rubbed her the wrong way. She was new and she hadn’t even made an effort at the “get to know me” game. Who tried out for a team sport but didn’t actually want to be part of a team? 

At least Rachel was giving her a headache when she raced down the right side. Rachel was like a brick wall. Players ran into her, but they were the ones to fall to the ground and Rachel ended up with possession. Sure, she got a little aggressive sometimes, earned a few too many yellow cards, but she got the job done AND she was a versatile player. She held down the backline at right back, but she could push up to play a winger in the midfield or a forward. She’d even scored for them in the playoffs last year. 

Before they’d lost to the Tigers, that was. Shelby grit her teeth at the memory. 

“Shel!” Dot called out, but Shelby had seen the play coming. 

She was in the air, head connecting with the ball to send it back the other way and Fatin was there, like she so often was despite her protests, to tap the ball in. 

Becca glared her way and Shelby ignored it. 

Things had been tense ever since —

Well, there was no use thinking about things like that right now, was there? This was a scrimmage. 

_ Head in the game, Goodkind. _

The celebration of their goal was short lived as Toni quickly got the ball, nutmegged Leah, and chipped it right over Dot’s outstretched fingertips. 

“Fuck,” Shelby muttered under her breath. 

“Swearing!” Fatin teased as she walked past. Walked, not ran. She never ran if she could avoid it. If she wasn’t so good at being at the right place at the right time, they’d have kicked her off the team long ago. She made no secret in saying she was only there because her parents thought it would look good on college applications. 

Another two plays, another two almost goals on Dot, and Shelby realized Toni’s biggest weakness. She was a selfish player. She took more touches than she should, tried to shoot when she should pass. There wasn’t room for a selfish player on their team, no matter how skilled they were with a ball at their feet. 

“Rach, keep her too far outside. She won’t be able to get a good angle for a shot and she’s too selfish to score!” 

Rachel nodded with a smirk. She cracked her neck and charged. 

Shelby got in position to receive a pass when Rachel inevitably ended up with the ball. 

Except —

Except that wasn’t what happened at all. 

Toni crossed to Linh at midfield who shot a long pass back to Toni, but when Rachel was right there, Toni faked left, then right. Rachel stayed with her, but then —

“What in the world?” Shelby watched gobsmacked as the ball arched over Rachel’s head and Toni raced around her to pick it back up. She made to strike, but then Lauren was there, and Toni tapped a pass right to her feet without even looking at her, without even acknowledging that she had seen her, and it was Lauren who put it into the corner of the net. 

“Wow,” Fatin commented. “Girl’s got skills.”

“She’s fast, too,” Leah muttered. 

“She’s not THAT much better than us,” Shelby argued. 

“Are you kidding? She could make the difference for us. With her? We could win States,” Dot countered, the ball under her arm. 

Shelby looked to Coach Klein, who was smiling that smile she had when she saw great things coming. 

As irritating as she found Toni, she could tell that the girl was here to stay. 

  
  


Toni didn’t hang around and talk to anyone. She didn’t try to make plans. She ran an extra lap, then made her way towards the road that led up to the school, not heading to the carpark like most of them would. She walked with a confident air, a sort of “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. There was a swagger to the way she nodded goodbye to Fatin, to the way she dropped the pair of shades to her eyes, sweat making her muscles shine in the fall sunshine. 

“What do you think?” 

Shelby snapped her gaze away from Toni and looked at Coach Klein. “About what?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t really being asked her opinion about Toni. 

The hope was dashed a moment later. 

“She’s got a real fire in her, don’t you think?” 

“She yelled at Leah for a totally fine tackle,” Shelby countered. 

“Exactly! We need that fire. And her ball skills exceeded my expectations. I knew she was naturally athletic, but that rainbow kick over Rachel?” Coach Klein let out a low whistle. 

“It was a bit flashy.” 

Coach Klein turned curious eyes on Shelby. “You have some reservations.”

Shalby bit her lip. She’d learned long ago to choose her words carefully around Coach Klein. “She has potential, but she’s a wild card.” 

Coach Klein seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. Potential. Exactly. And we need a wild card. Someone who can really change up games for us. We fell into a rut last season. I don’t want to make that same mistake again.” 

Shelby tried not to take personal offense at that. She hadn’t been the captain last year, after all. It wasn’t on her if they’d fallen into a rut. And they’d still made it to playoffs. That was hardly a rut, really. Still, the words stung. 

“I want you to help her, Shelby,” Coach Klein said. “Get her to feel like part of the team. Get her to care about us so that she wants to win for us. With her...I think we will win.” 

Shelby smiled tightly and nodded. “Of course, Coach Klein.” She began to walk away, heading back to the locker rooms for a hot shower to help her get out of her own head. 

“I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t talk to you about her joining the team before practice!” Coach Klein called after her, making Shelby’s steps falter. 

How did she always seem to pick up on things like that? 

“No, it was fine! You’re the coach, after all,” Shelby replied, flashing another smile that she was sure didn’t reach her eyes. 

“I wanted to see how you’d adapt.” 

Shelby nodded, smiled, then looked away. The one thing she really disliked about Coach Klein is the way that she felt like she was always being tested, like they all were, and her statement just then was only further proof. 

When, exactly, was she going to just be good enough? 

Shelby’s mind flashed to her father, to the tightlipped disapproval she was so often met with these days. 

When was she going to be good enough for someone? Anyone? 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni and Shelby butt heads, and Toni has an unexpected interaction with her foster family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still kind of introducing my version of their backstories here. Hopefully you'll all hang out for the set up chapters. Let me know if you like it! Thanks to everyone who left feedback last chapter! It means a lot!   
> xx

“You went out for the soccer team?” 

Toni braced herself. She braced for the anger, for the “I’m not paying for shit”, for the annoyance that she had dared do something without permission. She nodded, her teeth clenched. 

“Yeah, and she made it!” Martha supplied. Martha, new foster sister, and apparent tattle-tale. Lovely. 

Toni shot her a reproachful look. 

“That’s amazing! Congratulations! We should do something to celebrate!” Mrs. Blackburn’s cheerful, genuine voice shocked Toni, and she couldn’t stop the surprise from showing on her face. 

“What?” 

“Oh, you know what we should do? Martha, go see if  _ gizigos _ has made any of her cakes recently.”

Martha’s eyes lit up. “She makes the BEST cakes,” she informed Toni. 

Toni was confused. This wasn’t how she saw this going. This wasn’t the way it would have gone in her last several foster homes. It made her uncomfortable. 

“It’s really not a big deal. We don’t have to do anything.” She squirmed in her seat, but Mrs. Blackburn gave her a surprised look. 

“You should be proud! It’s an accomplishment and accomplishments should be celebrated!” 

Proud. As if. That wasn’t really a word in Toni’s wheelhouse. If she ever made the mistake of feeling proud, someone was sure to knock it out of her soon enough. She’d rather just be ready for the fight. 

“Martha, go on. And ask her if she wants to do dinner on Friday. And see if your cousins want to come to Toni’s first game!”

Martha was already up and leaving the room before Toni could protest. 

“It’s really — I might not even play. Because I’m new to the team.” 

“We want to be there anyway. Although...I don’t know much about soccer,” Mrs. Blackburn admitted, busying herself with dinner preparations. “You’re going to have to teach me about it. Okay?” 

Teach HER? Toni nodded feeling very unsure of herself. This was not the way the world worked in her experience. There had to be a catch. Why was her foster mom so interested in the things she was doing? Could it be that she had landed in one of the mythical good foster families? 

Toni shook the thought off. As soon as she let her anger get the best of her, as soon as they saw the trouble she could bring, she’d be out on her ass just like she had been everywhere else. 

Only another year and a half until she aged out of the system. Maybe she could hold on until then. 

  
  


“No! No. Everyone freeze!” 

Toni glared at the grass, watching the sun reflecting brilliantly off of the wet blades. 

“You keep. Doing. The same. Runs.” Coach Klein smacked her clipboard for emphasis. 

“Toni, you need to diversify. If you keep charging right up the center, of course Shelby is going to meet you there every time.”

“Yeah, but I can get around her,” Toni replied. 

She felt her spine stiffen at the snort from Shelby. Maybe the girl had gotten the best of her on the last play, but she had outpaced her more than once already at practice today. 

“You might be able to get around her sometimes, but sometimes you’ll lose the ball to her,” Coach Klein countered. “Because she can predict where you’re going to come, everytime. You center the ball and run right down the middle.”

“Because it gives me the best scoring opportunities,” Toni pointed out, unable to keep the “duh” tone out of her voice.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize this was all about YOUR best scoring opportunities. I thought it was about the team’s,” Shelby butted in. 

Toni shot her a glare then turned her back on her, facing Coach Klein more fully. 

“If I know I can beat her, shouldn’t I take the opportunity to try to score?” 

“No. Because you DON’T know that for sure, which is why I just got the ball from you.” Shelby’s voice was like an irritating fly buzzing by her ear. 

Toni could feel her near her, could tell that she’d come up behind her to talk over her shoulder to Coach Klein. She could feel the heat radiating from her body. It irked her. 

“I know that I’ll beat you next time,” Toni replied. 

“You can’t. And if it was an actual game then you just turned over the ball to the opposition. If you’d passed to Rachel on the wing, then you still might have scored off of a cross, but you were too selfish to do that!” 

Toni couldn’t help herself. She rounded on Shelby, surprised to find the girl directly in her face and not backing down from the anger she knew was etched on her own features. “Excuse me? I am not SELFISH! I want to score so that our TEAM wins! Or do you not care about winning?” 

Shelby stepped forward a fraction of an inch, green eyes glaring fiercely. She was a bit taller than Toni, and she used that height to look down on her, which only served to make Toni’s blood boil more. 

Her nose was so close that it was almost brushing her own. “I care about how we win, not just that we win. We’re not looking for the Toni Shalifoe show here. We’re looking at a team effort, and you’re the only one who doesn’t seem interested in being a part of one.” 

“Okay, I don’t really think that’s fair,” Dot spoke up. 

Toni didn’t need her help, though. She could fight her own battles. “I’m just trying to be part of a winning team. It’s not my fault if you can’t see that I can help you win.” 

Shelby didn’t back down. She didn’t step away. She didn’t do any of the things that someone normally faced with an angry Toni did. Something flashed in her green eyes, something daring, something with more strength than Toni would’ve expected from their first few encounters. 

“Okay, then. Why don’t we try it? One more time. You do your little run straight up the middle thing and see if you can get around me.  _ I’m _ going to work as part of a team. Let’s see who ends up with the ball,” Shelby challenged, and the little smirk that tugged on her lips only served to enrage Toni further. 

She stepped back and tried to shake it off with a little laugh. “Fine. Yeah. Let’s do that. I’ll work with my team. You work with yours, and we’ll see who wins.” 

Toni could sense some hesitation from the other girls. She could see them glancing at Coach Klein out of the corner of her eye. 

“Yeah, all right. Fuck it,” Rachel said, shaking out her arms and lining up. “Let’s do this.” 

Toni could only assume that Coach Klein had agreed to let the challenge play out. 

Toni didn’t look though. She didn’t glance to the coach or to any of the other girls as she lined up at midfield. She kept her eyes on Shelby, stared her down, let her know that not one part of her was intimidated by her. 

To her surprise, Shelby held the eye contact. 

When Coach Klein blew the whistle, Toni took off with the ball at her feet. She dribbled easily around Linh, passed back to Rachel, who moved up the sideline, then crossed it to her in the middle. 

And Shelby was on her in a second, her speed still a little unexpected to Toni, despite having witnessed her beep test, despite having run with her in practice all week now. She was quick and she was technical, and Toni knew it, but she also knew what she could do with a ball at her feet. 

She faked left, turned right, and growled as Shelby bumped her from behind, making her shift her weight a little too far forward. She barely kept the ball at her feet as Shelby fought her for it. She turned it again, tapping it just far enough to give herself a little space, but Shelby was back on her in an instant. 

“Not so skilled against a skilled opponent, are you?” Shelby challenged. 

“Skilled at what? This isn’t a beauty pageant,” Toni shot back breathlessly. 

Shelby got a foot on the ball, but it wasn’t enough of a touch to get control and Toni tapped it away again, turning once more. 

She lifted her head to look for a teammate, but Rachel was thoroughly covered by Lauren and Fatin wasn’t even looking towards her. She didn’t want to pass backwards. She wanted to score. She wanted to win. 

She turned again, wondering if she struck it from here if there was a chance she’d make it through the traffic in front of goal. 

“Someone get free!” she growled in frustration. 

“What’s the matter? Can’t get around me?” Shelby asked. Her cheeks were red with exertion which only made her green eyes stand out more, the challenge in them untampered by the fact that she still hadn’t managed to gain control of the ball. 

“Oh, I can,” Toni assured her. 

Shelby stepped wide and Toni saw her opportunity. She kicked the ball right through Shelby’s legs, feeling smug as she did so, but —

Shelby must have been anticipating it because in a flash she had turned and now she was between Toni and the ball, cutting her off, and —

“FUCK!” Toni cried out in frustration as Shelby passed it off to Linh who Becca had left unmarked. “What the fuck, Becca?” Linh took her shot and Dot saved it, but the point had been made. 

“Language,” Shelby reminded her in that annoying southern drawl. 

The smirk on her face made Toni’s skin crawl and her blood boil. She was on the verge of exploding when Coach Klein blew the whistle. 

“Okay, I think we’ve learned something here.”

Toni dragged her feet as she moved to circle up around the coach. She didn’t feel like being lectured on the lesson. 

“We’ve got some fighting spirit here, that’s for sure,” Coach Klein said. “That fire is going to take us far. BUT...We need to change up plays sometimes. Even the best of us don’t always come out with the ball.” 

She looked around at everyone, but Toni didn’t meet her eyes. She’d fucked up and with it she’d probably lost any chance of playing on Saturday, let alone starting. 

“Okay, we’re gonna switch things up. 2 v 2 drills. Shelby? Toni? You’re a team. In fact, you’re a team for the next two weeks, I think. So get used to it.” 

“WHAT?” Toni was relieved to hear Shelby’s voice echo her own. Neither of them wanted this. 

“I’m good with Rachel,” Toni offered. 

Coach Klein smiled in a way that Toni didn’t like. “No. You and Shelby. You need to take that fire and figure out how to make it work together.” 

Toni shot Shelby a glare. Whatever Coach Klein thought she saw, she was mistaken, because there wasn’t any fire between her and Shelby. The only thing that existed there was annoyance. 

  
  


~*~

“She’s just so — UGH!”

“Mhm.” 

Shelby glanced at Leah and realized that her eyes were glued to her book. “You’re not even listening, are you?”

Leah looked up. “Huh? Yeah I am. Toni is annoying and you hate working with her. It’s all you’ve talked about all week,” Leah replied. 

Shelby glowered at her and collapsed beside her onto her book. “Well, she IS annoying.” She was. The end of practice had been an absolute nightmare. It didn’t matter what was happening, Toni would NOT pass to her. They were supposed to be on the same team! A team of 2, no less! It was no wonder they’d lost over and over. 

“She’s not that bad. If she’d learn to pass more she’d be great,” Leah countered. 

“She would NOT be great because she still brings that horrible attitude. Every day. I TRIED being nice and she just, like, glares at me. She glares at everyone.” 

“Like Becca did last year for like two months after —”

Shelby threw a hand over Leah’s mouth and glanced anxiously at her doorway. Her daddy wasn’t supposed to be home yet, but she couldn’t risk him hearing even a mention of Becca’s name. She didn’t want to relive — She couldn’t have him looking at her like...THAT...again. 

She took a deep breath and took her hand off of Leah’s mouth and Leah, at least, had the decency to look mildly apologetic. 

It was bad enough that Becca had stayed on the team, a constant reminder of all of the mistakes that Shelby had made whenever she was at practice. She didn’t need her best friend bringing her up. 

“Toni thinks I’m just pageants and nothing else. Some vapid southern belle. She doesn’t even know me.” 

“You DO do pageants,” Leah pointed out. 

Shelby sighed in exasperation. “I know I do, but you know that’s not my whole life! It makes my mom feel good to see me do pageants the way she used to before kids. Just because I wear makeup and get my hair and my nails done sometimes doesn’t mean that I don’t work just as hard as everyone else on the team, if not harder.” 

Leah acknowledged that with a nod, but Shelby saw her eyes drifting back towards her book. 

Shelby rolled her eyes. She loved Leah, she really did, but sometimes she was a little on the self-absorbed side. It was like her problems were the only ones. She’d gotten obsessive over a breakup over the summer to the point where the girls on the team had staged an intervention of sorts. Still, she was good with the advice, and she was the best center back. As self-absorbed as she could be off the field, on the field she was the opposite, noticing everything, able to organize her backline like nobody else. Shelby knew that their defense wouldn’t be half as good without her. 

“When is your next pageant anyway?” Leah asked. 

Shelby sighed and glanced at the calendar on the wall. Her mother had put a shimmery star sticker on the date. “The 24th.” 

“I still can’t believe she makes you do pageants during the season. You know Coach hates it.” 

Shelby sighed again. “I know, but she’s my mom. What am I supposed to do?” 

“Stand up to her? Tell her you love soccer more? Tell them that you’re good enough to get a scholarship?” 

Shelby bit her lip. They’d talked about this before, ad nauseum, but Leah didn’t understand. Her parents weren’t like Shelby’s. They didn’t force her into things. They supported her no matter who she was or what she wanted. Shelby’s parents — Well, they had expectations. That was all. There was nothing wrong with having expectations. 

Except that Shelby felt an overwhelming pressure to meet every single one. 

Sometimes the pressure was so heavy it felt like she might drown in it. 

She took a deep breath. God would guide her through. She had to trust that. 

“I’ll only miss one practice.” 

  
  


“We need to talk.” 

She wasn’t expecting a lot. She really wasn’t expecting Toni to listen to her at all, but she needed to try. They had a game. They needed to have their heads on straight and work together. 

“So talk,” Toni muttered as she laced up her cleats. They were old and stained and Shelby wondered briefly if they’d even last Toni the season. She felt a pang of pity for her as she glanced at her own, brand new, top-of-the-line cleats. 

“In private?” 

Toni did glance up at her then, brown eyes glaring with a hint of annoyance. 

Shelby kept her calm. She couldn’t afford to get worked up before a game. She needed to be focused. “Please?” she asked with a smile she didn’t mean, but that she hoped appeared genuine. 

Toni rolled her eyes, finished tying her cleat and stood up, following her out of the locker room into the hallway. 

Shelby ignored the way that Becca’s eyes trailed them out of the room. 

“What?” Toni asked, crossing her arms over her chest as if otherwise it might seem like she was actually inviting the conversation. 

Shelby reminded herself not to let herself get offended by it. “Look, I know we’ve had our issues in practice this week —”

Toni snorted, but Shelby ignored it and continued. “But we really need to work together today. The Bears are no joke.”

Toni shrugged. “Okay?” 

That didn’t really feel like agreement. “I mean it. Can we just...work as a team today? Like actually pass to each other and stuff?” 

“Oh my God, I DO pass!”

“Please, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain,” Shelby requested, her hand coming up to her cross necklace out of reflex. 

Toni rolled her eyes. “I do pass, Shelby.” 

Shelby was almost surprised to hear Toni say her name. It wasn’t that she thought somehow she didn’t know it, but she hadn’t heard the word from her before. Between that and the way that Toni was meeting her gaze it was —

Unexpected. 

“Okay. Well, great. I’m glad we sorted that out.” 

Shelby moved to head back into the locker room, but Toni stuck out her hand, pressing it into the wall just in front of her, blocking her path. “It goes both ways, you know. I know I’m not starting, or whatever, but if she puts me in I’m going to score. So get me the ball.”

She was just so damn cocky! Ugh! Shelby took a deep breath. Cocky, but good, she reminded herself. 

“I’ll pass if you don’t take it straight up the middle every time,” Shelby challenged.

Toni smirked. “Deal.” 

  
  



End file.
